The Ice Inside Your Soul
by 21ShootingStars
Summary: Edward leaves after the Jasper incident, but his family stays behind. 2 years after the Battle at Hogwarts Hermione moves to Forks to get away from bad memories, and help her cousin Bella get over her depression.  Hermione/ Carlisle. Esme never existed.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, there! I'm glad to see you've found _another _one of my fics; and I know that if you're one of those people whose read one of my others you're probably wondering if I'll ever actually just stick to one and finish it before starting a new story. And the answer to that is: Probably Not, but I will eventually finish Running From Reality and A New Truth_._ I love them both too much to give them up.

ANYWAY, here's my new story. It's a Carlisle/Hermione Twilight-Harry Potter crossover. The idea hit me and, what can I say? I couldn't get it to go away, so here it is.

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Disclaimer-Not mine. Twilight and Harry Potter belong to their respective authors, not a High School Freshman in Louisiana. Sadly, I fit the 'not' category.

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_CHAPTER ONE_

All Hermione really felt like doing right now was going up to her bedroom and crying herself to sleep. Sadly, that wasn't going to happen for at least another thirty minutes. She knew it wouldn't happen because she had things to do before she'd be able to sleep.

The first thing she would need to do would be put Teddy to bed, because it's _way_ past his bedtime. The only reason he was even out that night was because he'd had to be at the party to accept his parents' awards in their absence.

The only reason, other than the fact that Teddy needed to be there, that Hermione went to the party was that she was accepting Harry's award in his absence. If it had only been for herself, she would've told them to throw her Order of Merlin into the fire, but she couldn't let that happen to Harry's; even though Hermione knew he'd never have wanted the thing, he was a hero and deserved the honor.

And so, Hermione and Teddy had gotten dressed up along with the rest of the British wizarding community and went to Hogwarts for the party celebrating the two year anniversary of the Final Battle.

As Harry's widow, sort of, it fell to Hermione to accept his Order of Merlin.

She was only his widow to the public; they were never really married, but everyone thought they were. Harry and Hermione had both found out the hard way about marriage contracts. Apparently once you turn nineteen in the wizarding world other people are allowed to ask the ministry for your hand in marriage. Your only options are to either find your own choice and become engaged within two months of the latest contract being submitted, or marry one of the people who asked the ministry for you. If you didn't then the ministry chose who you married. Barbaric, isn't it?

Being heroes of the war, they were both flooded with proposals. Ronald had escaped the proposals by the lucky coincidence that two weeks before his nineteenth birthday he'd been out of the country and gotten so drunk with a girl at a party that they'd decided it was a good idea to be married. Needless to say, they'd both rather regretted it the next day. Lucky for Ron and Sara, they'd soon discovered that they actually liked each other. They actually fell in love and kept the marriage together.

This brings us to Hermione and Harry; they pretended to already be engaged to each other to get away from the Ministry control. They'd been forced to have a ceremony, and they were technically legally bound to each other, but they weren't in love. Neither of them liked to think of it as a marriage; they preferred to think of themselves as simply best friends who lived together. There was definitely affection, though, slightly beyond brother and sister or friends. Hermione could hardly stand to admit it, even to herself now that he's gone, that she'd been beginning to like him in that way when he'd been so cruelly taken from this world, but she had been. The entire time they were married was a huge farce of a married life. Hermione had, along with Harry, adopted Teddy after Andromeda was killed by one of the many rogue Death Eaters. They'd connected their vaults and Wills, moved in together, and even been spotted snuggled up together in public on 'dates'.

It was all fake, but the ministry and wizarding public had bought it.

But now Harry and Ron were both gone forever.

That was nearly five months ago. Hermione had been taking care of Teddy on her own ever since then.

She'd never planned to be any kind of stay at home mother, or even wife, but Teddy was a bit of a handful; so that's pretty much what Hermione had been doing. It wasn't like she needed to work, Harry'd left the Potter fortune and everything his family had ever owned to her, Ron, and Teddy, and her parents had left nearly everything to her when they died in a car wreck three months after she found then and got them back from Australia, but she did get slightly bored with nothing to really do other than take care of Teddy. She'd taken to travelling to all the Potter Mansions and properties around the world with Teddy for a few weeks each and restoring them to their former glory from before the night James and Lily were killed.

They'd enjoyed it, especially visiting the local cities and landmarks near each location, but it just felt wrong to be the widow of a man she'd loved as a brother. It felt wrong to be the Lady Potter when Harry should've been able to marry anyone he liked on his own time, but he had been with her to save them both from marrying some crazy old trolls picked by the ministry. It had felt wrong to accept Harry's Order of Merlin at the party that evening, too.

Hermione didn't know how long she'd be able to deal with staying in Britain as they'd been doing the last three weeks. It seemed like everyone in the country knew she was 'Harry Potter's Wife' and expected that from her. Even the families who lived near all the other Potter properties had expected her to be with a Potter, because those properties had always belonged to Harry's family, which Hermione was now a part of.

She felt like she needed to get away from everything that could be traced back to Harry's family, or even the war, and that that would be the only way she'd find peace away from terrible memories for both herself and Teddy.

As Hermione put her son, because though she acknowledged that Teddy was definitely the child of Tonks and Remus, he had become her son as well in the past months, to bed she wondered on where they might go to escape it all.

It would have to be somewhere small, it would have to be someplace that the Potters weren't involved with, and it would have to be thoroughly muggle.

She put the thoughts from her mind as she threw herself onto her bed to have a good cry for all the memories brought up that night and maybe fall asleep.

After the memories flashed by one last time and she was worn out, Hermione eventually fell gratefully into the land of sleep.

She was awoken nearly three hours later by the shrill ringing of a telephone.

By the time she managed to dig herself out of bed and find the phone, the machine had already asked for a message and she could hear a voice, one that she hadn't heard since her parents funeral seven months ago, talking.

While continuing the useless search for the telephone, her sleep-fogged mind just couldn't remember where the thing was, she wondered what could be important enough for her Uncle Charlie to call when he lived on the other side of the world.

All he said on the message was that there was a bit of a situation in Washington that he hoped she could help with and he left her his number to call him back at if she got the message before he tried again.

She gave herself a minute to remember where one of the phones in her parents' old house, Hermione's house now, was.

_Of course! There's one in the kitchen by the oven! Damn, the fact that I had to think so hard about that shows it's been way too long since I've been here._

After taking a quick peek into Teddy's room to check on him, he was thankfully still sleeping, though she didn't know how through all the racket the call had made, Hermione went to call Uncle Charlie.

_Ring! Ring! Ri-_

"Hello?"

"Hey, Uncle Charlie, It's Hermione. You called at this ungodly hour?"

"Oh, yeah, Sorry about the time difference; I thought for a second it was eight hours earlier there. I only just now realized what time it really is over there."

"Yes, well, I try not to make a habit of being up at 3 AM, so if we could get to the point?"

"Sorry. Thanks for calling me back, kiddo. I wasn't even sure if you'd be there, but this is the only number I had for you….I've got a question for you, but I don't need an answer right away if you need to think about it." He sounded nervous, and Hermione didn't think she liked that very much. Charlie had always been a quiet man, but never a nervous one.

"Alright, what is it?"

"I know you're probably busy over there with that son of yours_,_ but you're the only one I can think of who can help us right now. You see, Bella is really going through a bad time right now. You're the only one I know her age who's lost someone close to you before and, I know it's not the same, but, Bella's boyfriend just ran away from town and she's nearly catatonic right now. I don't know what to do. She's acting like the world is over and I'm terrified for her. If she keeps this up much longer she'll need professional help. Do you think you could come over and try to help her?"

Hermione was absolutely not expecting something like that. An invitation to go to Washington and help her cousin? How do you even help someone who's had a breakdown like Charlie just described?

_I don't know, but I'll try and figure it out._

"Err...Of course I'll come, Uncle Charlie. I don't know what help I'll be, but I'll come do whatever I can. What exactly happened?" Hermione couldn't imagine breaking down so completely as to need _professional _help just because a boy left. It didn't make sense at all, at least not to Hermione.

"To tell the truth, I don't much understand myself. It seems like he just up and left his family and Bella behind and, from what his father says, moved to Alaska with other relatives. His family still lives in town, but Bella won't talk to them. She thinks they hate her for chasing off that boy! It's unnatural, though; the way she acts, you'd think her entire life was over sometimes. There are good times when I feel like she's totally here, but then there's the times she's screaming in her sleep and others when she won't talk to anyone. I don't get it, Hermione."

"I don't either, but I'll come try to help."

"Thank you. Um…just another quick question: Are you going to fly, or will you be getting here…your way?"

Hermione nearly laughed at that question. She'd forgotten that Charlie knew about her world. He'd been visiting for a week or two when Professor McGonagall arrived at her house to tell Hermione about the wizarding world.

"…We'll be getting over one of my kind of ways, alright? I should be there in a bit. It won't be more than a couple hours."

"Sounds good; I don't think I'll ever get used to that disappearing thing you can do."

She did laugh at that one. Charlie really hadn't been expecting it the one time he'd seen her apparate.

"Bye, Uncle Charlie."

"Bye."

_Click._

At least she had something to keep her awake now.

And so the packing began…

Hermione realized that this trip just might be the one she needed to get away from the pressure she'd been thinking about last night.

She thought about what she'd do with this trip.

_Maybe, get my own small house for the two of us in Forks. It's definitely small and muggle._

Hermione was glad that they'd only been in that house for about a week, because that meant there hadn't been all that much time to let their belongings take over the house. It wasn't too hard to pack everything into the little beaded bag she still carried.

With magic helping out, she had all their stuff, and the two of them, packed and ready to go to Washington within two hours.

Teddy was asking where they were going, so Hermione told him all about Washington State, or…what she could remember anyway. It had been quite a few years since she'd visited Uncle Charlie.

"Teddy, I'm going to need your help with something while we're in Forks, okay? Your auntie Bella needs a new friend, so I want you to be real sweet to her."

He nodded like he understood, and Hermione wondered briefly how much he really did understand.

Hermione wasn't exactly sure if Teddy should consider Bella an aunt or a cousin, but she figured Bella wouldn't mind being an aunt. You see, a long time ago, while Hermione's grandmother was still pregnant with Hermione's father, John, John Granger's father was killed in the Second World War during the invasion at Normandy on the beach code-named Gold. Aiming to get away from the memories associated with living in London, Hermione's grandmother moved to America with her son. John Granger had a difficult time adjusting to life in Washington, but over the years he became close to a boy a couple years his junior named Charlie Swan. At Charlie's birthday party one year, Mr. Swan met John's mother. It was love at first sight and a few years later, Charlie and John were step-brothers. They remained close friends even after John decided to attend University in the country of his birth and ended up remaining there for most of his life.

Hermione picked Teddy up and held him tight to her side with one hand while she reached for her necklace with the other. Once she grabbed her necklace, Hermione thought of Uncle Charlie's house in Forks and willed the portkey to take them there.

Once she felt the nauseating sensation of the tugging behind her navel begin, Hermione relaxed and waited for the, sure to be long, trip to end.

_Thank Merlin for those Potter portkeys._ Hermione thought, as she remembered all the hassle it would've been if she had to go through the proper ministry channels to get a portkey able to take them all the way to Forks.

Long after their marriage begun, Harry had discovered something interesting about his family that he'd never known.

Harry had never had a clue about his family having any titles, but one day at Gringotts, while Harry, Ron, and, Hermione were there for 'peace-talks', trying to find friendly ground between themselves and the Goblin Nation after breaking into the bank, he'd discovered a few things he'd never imagined. He'd inherited a few titles on his seventeenth birthday, when he came of age, but Gringotts had been unable to reach him to inform him about them.

The goblins were easy enough to please in the 'peace-talks' once they understood about _why_ the three needed the cup because they had been glad to be rid of Voldemort too; the only things they'd wanted were information on how the trio had broken in so that security could fix it and a _little bit_ of gold to ease the ego-bruising that they'd gotten.

After that had been settled the goblins had dropped one hell of a bombshell on Harry; he'd inherited the positions of Lord Potter and Lord Black on his seventeenth birthday. They'd told him what that entailed and asked him if he accepted the positions.

Harry had thought for a while before accepting the positions and all the responsibilities that came with them. He had to go to a monthly Wizengamot meeting, become a bit more involved in politics, he gained a duty to protect the members of both families (of which there were very few), and a few smaller, not very important, responsibilities.

With accepting his new titles and responsibilities he'd made Hermione the new Lady Potter-Black and, now that he was gone, eventually Teddy would have the option of replacing Harry as Lord Potter-Black.

As odd as it may be, Teddy was more qualified for the position than Harry. He was actually related to both lines, Black through his mother and Potter through a blood-adoption, while Harry wasn't related to the Blacks anywhere near as closely.

Along with the positions came the Family Vaults, something Harry'd had no clue existed. They contained quite a bit of money along with precious family heirlooms (books and jewelry mostly, but a few weapons and some random odds and ends, things like the invisibility cloak, and secret family inventions that were rather useful) and the deeds to countless properties around the world. There had also been information on the investments and business dealings of both families.

Among the Family Heirlooms there had been a set of items with the Potter Crest on them; items like necklaces, lockets, a few rings for men and women, cuff-links, bracelets, and even a tie-clip. The real beauty behind the pieces was a genius enchantment put on them all ages ago. They were all modified versions of portkeys that would take a person anywhere as long as they thought of that place. Regular portkeys only took their users the one place they were made to go. The entire concept was rather like apparating except it didn't drain one's magic like apparating over long distances would.

One of those Potter portkeys, this one in the form of a locket a little smaller than a galleon, was how Hermione was bringing herself and Teddy to the United States and easily getting to Uncle Charlie's house.

Around five minutes into the trip Teddy was already squirming up a storm, obviously uncomfortable with the trip to the other side of the world. Hermione couldn't blame him; it really wasn't pleasant to go on such long portkey trips with the sickening feeling of being dragged around by something hooked to your insides.

The total trip took a whole seven minutes and 26 seconds; Hermione timed it, so she really did know that exact time.

She knew that she ought to be glad they hadn't had to wait for a 'ministry approved' portkey or, heaven forbid, a fourteen hour overseas, muggle, flight, but while using a portkey that went on for so long all Hermione could think was _let's not __**ever**__ do that again._

Teddy was probably thinking along the same lines.

And Bella and Charlie probably were, too, considering they'd both just gotten the shock of their life when their cousins appeared in their living room, practically in their laps, while the two were watching some soccer game on television.

Bella, who it seemed wasn't aware of the fact that her cousins were even coming, nearly screamed and jumped out of her skin. Charlie, well….Charlie just flinched terribly and made a rather undignified and unmanly squeaking sound.

"Hi, Bella; Hi, Uncle Charlie. Teddy, say 'hello'" Hermione said, giggling at their still surprised faces, as she set Teddy on the ground.

Teddy looked at the strangers in front of him and backed away, hiding behind his mum. He poked his head out from behind her legs, waved, and said "'Ello."

That broke them out of their shock and Charlie replied "Hello, Hermione and Teddy. How was the trip?"

"Sickening."

"Oh, that's too bad. I really wasn't expecting you to get here that quickly; I was just about to let Bella know you were coming."

"I'm sorry, Uncle Charlie. I should've called before I left." Hermione apologized, wondering where her manners had gone; she knew that she knew better than to just pop in, literally.

"Don't worry about it, honey. I did practically beg you to come, after all."

"Ok."

"Good, now does anyone want to tell me what's going on?" Bella finally entered the conversation.

"Sorry Bells. Hermione is here to visit for a while, sorta like a vacation." He obviously didn't want to tell her that he'd asked Hermione to come and try dragging Bella out of some crazy depressed state.

And now that Hermione looked, she could see the way Bella had unhealthy-looking bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in weeks, and her eyes looked far away, like she wasn't really paying all that much attention to what was going on.

"Er…Actually Charlie, I was thinking yesterday that it would be a good idea for us to start over in a new place to get away from the memories in England, so after you called I decided that Teddy and I would just get a house somewhere here in Forks. I think it's a small enough town that nothing and no one from my world will be around and it'll be a totally fresh start."

"That's-"

"What world are you from if it's not this one? And how did you just appear there?" Bella interrupted.

Hermione couldn't help but wonder if it took Bella that long to wonder about how they suddenly appeared there.

"I forgot that you didn't know about that, yet. You see…I'm a witch."

Bella's eyes widened and a little life came back into them. "With real magic? Like fairy godmothers and castles?"

_She accepted the witch part a lot easier than I expected._ "Yes, I can do real magic and, yes, I know of a few magic castles. But I don't think fairies make acceptable godmothers."

"Cool. What all can you do?"

"…I can probably do most anything you can think of."

"Can you-"

"Hang on, ladies. We can have a demonstration later. Are you sure you just want to pack up and leave England? I mean, you've lived there your entire life."

"There's nothing to keep me there; my husband's dead, I can't walk down the street without being recognized and reminded of a war I'd rather forget, and if I just go to any of Harry's old houses people ask where Harry is so I'm always reminded of him."

"You were married? Is that your son?" _Wow, Bella really was out of the loop about me, but I guess it's because we haven't seen each other in over a decade._

"Yes, I was married; but it was almost like an arranged marriage. He was my best friend and our government was going to force both of us to marry _someone_, we weren't sure who they were going to have either of us marry, so we just married each other before the Ministry had the chance to set us up with some horrid monsters. And Teddy isn't exactly my son like you're thinking. He was Harry's godson and when Remus and Tonks died in the war Harry and I adopted him."

"Is he magical, too?"

"Definitely. Watch this," Hermione turned to Teddy and ducked down to be eye level with him. "Teddy, baby, can you look like Daddy Harry for me?"

Teddy looked at her and blinked before slowly nodding and the three adults watched as his features morphed into some entirely different.

He originally looked the way he would've if he wasn't able to change his looks: slightly long, curly, sand colored hair with a heart-shaped face and amber eyes.

Bella gasped as his long hair shot up, straightened and turned black, his face rounded out, his eyes turned emerald, and he gained a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Hermione nearly gasped too; no matter how many times she saw him like this (it was one of his favorite ways to look) it still reminded her a bit too much of Harry.

"Whoa. That's awesome."

"Yeah, it really is; isn't it? He gets it from his real mum, Tonks."

"It's incredible," Charlie said dismissively, ending that line of conversation, "but are you really sure about moving to Forks?"

_Merlin, he's persistent! _"Yes, Uncle Charlie. I'm a hundred percent sure. I was thinking I'd go find a real-estate agency and look at house tomorrow morning."

Bella snorted. "Forks is way too small to bother with having a real-estate agency. I think I'd be surprised if there are three houses for sale in this town."

Charlie frowned. "You know, I think Bells is right. The Johnsons are moving to Nebraska and the Newman family is going to China with Paul's job, and I think that's it for houses that are for sale here. Most people who live here have been here for generations and have no intentions of leaving. I'm afraid if you're looking to buy a house you won't have many choices."

_Bloody hell, this town must be even smaller than I thought. _"It'll be fine. If I don't like either of them I can just get the one I like more and make a few changes. It doesn't take long to do a little…remodeling and redecorating with magic."

"…Alright, I can call Andy and Paul and ask them if I can bring my favorite niece over tomorrow to check out their houses. Me or Bella can drive you over whenever they say to come over, if that's alright with you?"

"I can drive my car, Uncle Charlie."

"I don't see a car. And you don't have an American license, anyway."

"My cars are in here." Hermione said, holding up the beaded bag. "And I'm technically not even in this country legally."

_I wonder what he'll say to that, after all he is a police officer._

Charlie scowled. "We'll have to do something about that if you're moving here."

"Of course; I can go back to England and, as I'm technically a Magical Britain citizen before an English citizen, I can get my Ministry to register me with the American Magical Ministry, and go through all the process of becoming legal. I'm sure they can get me papers and everything saying I'm here legally."

"Do that soon, I don't like the idea that I'm technically supposed to arrest you now that I know you aren't here legally."

Hermione giggled. "Sure thing."

"Now that that's settled can I see some more magic? I'm still not convinced that I understand what all you can do."

_She doesn't seem like she's all that depressed or going crazy or whatever Charlie was worried about. Maybe he was just exaggerating._

"What do you want to see?"

"Can you make that lamp turn into a parrot?"

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Author's Note- Well? How was it? I'd _love_ a review telling opinions….*_cough__**HINT**__cough_* And I know I made Charlie kinda old, if you do the necessary math to figure out his age, but that's just too bad.

Thanks for reading,

21ShootingStars.


	2. Chapter 2

_DISCLAIMER-_ I still don't own either series.

_CHAPTER TWO_

It would be another week before Hermione was able to start a life in Forks like she'd planned.

She'd gone over to look at the homes for sale and was incredibly thankful that she'd be able to easily re-do the inside to her tastes.

She'd bought the one from the family moving to China because it was slightly outside of town and felt more natural than the other, which was right in the center of Forks.

Her new house was in a meadow in the forest and had a huge winding driveway to get to it. The driveway leads straight up to a huge 5 car garage connected to the laundry room in the house. It's a somewhat large house with a _very_…bright color scheme.

The outside was a tolerable shade of sky blue with yellow shutters, but the inside had to go; it had to go far away and never return. Hermione couldn't understand how the previous owners had been able to stand it. Every room was a different color; most were pastels, some were neon.

The only positive thing Hermione could say about it was that it was better than the other house, which had a country-western theme.

The best way to change the colors in the house was to just eliminate all colors and start from scratch, so that's what she did. Bella had watched, fascinated, as the bright colors all disappeared and left the walls a boring white.

They'd let Teddy chose what color he wanted to start off with in the new decoration and come up with a color scheme to go with it.

He chose purple, so the house was now decorated with light purples, silvers, blacks, and whites on the walls and the same for items such as couches, pillows, and sheets.

With the open floor-plan that was original to the house, and less gaudy colors, the house was quite comfortable once they were settled in.

It had four bedrooms, all on the upper floor, and Hermione's room was right across the Hall from Teddy's.

After they'd gotten settled into the new house, Hermione had gone back to England and gone through the proper channels in order to begin the process of transferring her citizenship over from the Magical Britain to Magical America. It was a lot easier than going through the muggle governments would've been. Magical governments were rather lax about their security and were very willing to let nearly anyone in.

She and Teddy were now in the United States legally, and that was enough to make Charlie happy.

And Hermione even went and took a test to get an American driver's license, which made Charlie _really _happy.

Other than house-hunting, Hermione had been working on her main reason for being in Forks. She'd tried talking to Bella, but it was terribly difficult. Bella did have her good moments, like Charlie had said, where she was acting like a normal person, but they weren't all that common. It was usually when you got her totally distracted from whatever she'd been thinking about that she was fully aware of her surroundings.

Most of the time, she was off in her own world; not talking to anyone and not responsive if you tried to start a conversation.

Hermione couldn't get Bella to talk about what was wrong with her. She denied that there even was anything wrong.

Hermione had asked Charlie to tell her more about what had happened before the complete turn-around in his daughter.

"All I've been able to figure out is that a few months ago she went on a date with Edward Cullen; they went to go play baseball with his family. That night she was on her way back to Arizona; she said she didn't want to get attached to anyone in this town. Dr. Cullen and Edward went chasing her to bring her back.

"Last week I came home and found a note from Bella saying that she'd gone for a walk in the woods. I waited a while but she never came back, so I went looking for her on the trail. I couldn't find her, so I called up anyone who would know these woods. It was two hours later when one of the boys from the reservation managed to find her and carry her out. She wasn't reacting to anything at all, only saying 'He's gone.' Over and over again. The only 'he' I knew of in Bella's life was Edward, so I called the Doctor to see if he knew anything about it.

"Her boyfriend, Edward, had decided to leave town and his family and move back to Alaska, where the Cullens lived before they moved here. He took her for a walk in the woods and told Bella he was leaving town and just left her there in the woods! But they were only dating around three weeks, and I just don't understand how it's affected her so badly! It's only been a little over a week, but I'm worried about her health."

Bella would flinch if anyone mentioned this Edward guy around her and she would _never _talk about him herself. Hermione really didn't understand it either.

Even after the war no one Hermione had known broke down like that and Hermione had no idea what Charlie thought she'd be able to do for Bella.

The only thing Hermione could think to do was become Bella's friend and hope she'd eventually open up and talk about it.

After Hermione had gotten moved into town she decided that she'd like to have something to do during the days. Job options were rather limited in Forks, but Bella had said something about the high school's Art and Talented Drama teachers leaving the school and getting married and moving to Las Vegas a few months ago. Hermione had kept it well hidden through the years, but she was actually a fairly good artist and she was considering applying for the art teacher position. It would take a few falsified documents and a new, falsified, age, but she was fairly sure she might be able to get the job.

Hermione contacted Professor McGonagall and was soon the proud owner of a set of a Diploma saying that she'd graduated from an 'alternative learning center' in Scotland and had then taught there for a few years. Hermione wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the whole 'alternative learning center' bit, but she did appreciate that the Headmistress had made it seem like she had teaching experience and would therefore be qualified to teach at a High School, even if it wouldn't be a complicated class like geometry.

Her documents were all easy enough to modify to show that she was 24 years old instead of 20.

She put together a portfolio of some of her art before contacting the school about the opening as an Art teacher. It included some sketches she'd done of her friends while they thought she was doing homework, a painting of Firenze, and a few others that she was particularly fond of. Her favorite was of Harry on the day of the First Task; the sketch showed him in mid-leap jumping behind a boulder as the angered Horntail shot flames that only missed him by inches. She'd liked the sketch so much when she finished it that she'd re-done it as a painting, but it just wasn't as impressive as the first. A close second of her favorites was one that she'd drawn of Teddy while he looked up in awe at Harry's animagus form and stretched his arm out to feel the glorious green-eyed lion's fur just above his nose.

Forks High School was thrilled to have someone apply for the position and asked her to come on in for an interview the next day.

The Principal was enchanted by Hermione's work and the 'vivid imagination' that she showed through the work that didn't exactly fit with the muggle definition of reality. The glowing recommendation from Headmistress McGonagall didn't hurt either. She was hired for the job and was going to start the next week.

.

She invited Bella over for the weekend before she would begin working at the school. Her plan to become a good friend of Bella's had to start somewhere, and Hermione was hoping that a weekend away from Charlie would be a good chance for that.

"Bella, do you have any idea for something fun to do today?" It was Sunday morning now, and they'd been just hanging out around the house since Friday night watching movies or reading the entire time. About the most interesting thing they'd done was work with Teddy on teaching him the alphabet.

"Not really." She replied, uninterested.

"Oh. Well, how about we go to Seattle? Or maybe some other bigger city? Do you like shopping?" Hermione realized that she actually had no idea what sort of things her cousin liked to do.

Bella visibly shivered as she answered "I hate shopping; it's more Alice's idea of fun than it is mine."

Hermione smiled; that was the way she used to be too, before she started to be a little more outgoing. That was when it became fun to go shopping and search for the things she liked and would want.

_Maybe Bella just needs to get out more._

"Who's Alice?" Hermione knew Bella probably didn't want to talk about it from the way Bella had closed her eyes, as if she were in pain, when she said Alice's name, but she asked anyway; hoping to get Bella to talk to her.

"She was a friend. I don't think she likes me anymore."

"Why wouldn't she?"

"I ran her brother out of town. The entire family is bound to hate me now."

"Bella, no one could hate you; and if they do then they aren't worth your time. You know that, right?"

Hermione was glad that she seemed to be getting somewhere with Bella now and that she was actually talking about it, but she didn't like how Bella seemed to think the Cullens could hate her. Hermione couldn't imagine how it could be Bella's fault that the boy had left.

But Bella never answered, she just zoned out and went back into her own head. It was scary how easily she did that.

҉

It was around 1 AM the next morning before Bella uttered another sound.

And it was one Hermione wasn't pleased to hear. It was a terrified scream, and the next second after the scream there was a series of loud _thuds _starting upstairs and ending downstairs.

Hermione was woken up by the noise and rushed to the source of the noise to discover the problem. She found something she truly wished she hadn't.

Her cousin was sprawled at the bottom of the stairs with an arm and a leg bent at obviously unnatural angles and there were a few bleeding gashes on the side of her head.

One of Teddy's toys was bouncing down the stairs behind Bella. Hermione guessed that Bella must've tripped over it and fallen down the staircase. The gashes were probably from the hand-rail; it was quite pointy on the ends. Or maybe just from the hard wood of the stairs.

Bones and head-wounds weren't exactly things Hermione was qualified to work with, so Hermione couldn't heal her cousin. Bella would have to go to the Hospital.

Thankfully, Bella was still somewhat conscious and able to able to respond to simple questions. Hermione was fairly sure that was a good sign.

It's a good thing Charlie had told Hermione where to find the hospital just off the highway about ten miles out of town.

She levitated Bella out to the garage and put her in the passenger seat of the fastest of the many vehicles Hermione owned: Harry's baby, the Canary Yellow Porsche 911 Turbo.

They were halfway to the Hospital before Hermione realized something important. In the panic to help her cousin, she'd forgotten her son alone at the house.

"Bloody Hell! ...That's it; Roxy!" Hermione called.

"Yes, Mistress Potter, what can Roxy do for you?" Said the Potter Family's head elf, who was now sitting in Bella's lap where she'd appeared when called.

Hermione hadn't been thrilled, of course, when she found out about the dozen or so house elves working for the Potters, but when she discovered that they'd been working for the Potters for many, many, generations and had absolutely no desire to leave, and they were very well taken care of, she'd stopped protesting about having them around. Instead, she just made sure to treat them as kindly as possible.

"I need you to go to my new house and watch Teddy for a little while. I don't know when I'll be back, but it might be a while. Can you do that?"

"Definitely, Mistress Potter."

"Thank you, Roxy."

And the elf disappeared with an echoing _crack_.

Two minutes later Hermione was pulling into the ER drop-off area at the hospital.

She jumped out of her car and ran into the building. "I need help! My cousin fell down the stairs and she's not looking too good!"

A few nurses came rushing over and one asked "Where is she?"

"In my car." Hermione answered and ran back out to the car waiting just outside the doors; she could hear the nurses following.

They managed to get Bella into the emergency room and the nurses immediately kicked Hermione out to wait in the waiting area.

While she waited for news, Hermione called Charlie and explained what she believes happened to him; he said he'd be right over.

Hermione paced back and forth across the room, only able to think '_Bella's never going to want to talk to me or Teddy again. And Charlie will hate me now. I can't believe I've nearly killed Bella!'_

It was as if the words were on permanent repeat in her brain.

When Charlie got there and saw her, he just said "Relax, Hermione. Bella's always in the Hospital; she'll be fine." But it sounded like he was convincing himself. He'd been told about the injuries and knew they were pretty ugly.

Hermione doubted Bella was in any danger of dying, but she doubted that she'd be fine too soon. Those breaks really were ugly looking, and quite painful according to Bella.

She couldn't help but feel even worse than she already did when Charlie suddenly started looking around and then asked "Where's Teddy?"

"He's at home."

"Alone! What are you still doing here, then?"

"He's not alone; he's being watched by-" she lowered her voice to avoid anyone hearing "he's being watched by one of my house elves."

"What?"

"A house elf, they work for families in my world." Hermione didn't want to say anything else about it in public where they might be overheard.

"Ok. Are you sure he's alright?"

"He's fine."

They were silent for another two hours before they got news on how Bella was doing.

The news came in the form of one of the most beautiful human beings Hermione had ever seen. She couldn't help but stare at him when the Doctor walked over to Charlie. She noted the odd way that he paused in his walk while going over to Charlie, and how his golden eyes flicked over toward her before returning to Charlie. Charlie didn't notice it; he was too focused on getting information out of the doctor.

"Dr. Cullen," Charlie began "how is she?"

"Bella will be fine Charlie, and I've told you before to call me Carlisle." The doctor was very calm and friendly, so Hermione was fairly sure he was telling the absolute truth about Bella being alright. It let her relax for the first time in hours. "Her left arm and leg were both broken in two spots, and she had three gashes on her head: two on her face and one on the back of her head. Those needed stitches, but not too many; only five, total. And she has a pretty bad concussion, so I'd like for her to stay here for a few days; that way we can keep an eye on that."

"Whatever you suggest, Doct- Carlisle."

"You can go see her whenever you like, she's in room 279. How has she been lately, Charlie? I know all of us, especially Alice, have missed seeing her around."

"Just know that if I ever see that boy of yours he's going to have a lot to answer for, but she's been doing better since Hermione got here." Charlie pulled Hermione into the conversation, he'd probably sensed that she felt a little useless just standing there listening to them.

_If the way she's been is __**better**__, than I'd really hate to have seen her before._

"Oh, hello Ms…?"

"You can call me Hermione; I'm Bella's cousin." She said, reaching out to offer a handshake.

"Then you can call me Carlisle." He smiled and took her hand.

Hermione blushed when he bowed and lightly kissed the back of her hand. The only other person she'd ever known to do that was Sirius and it was a part of the way he was raised, she really hadn't expected that.

_But sweet Merlin, he's gorgeous…he's terribly cold, though._

"Hello, then, Carlisle."

"I'm grateful that you're helping Bella. My son was an idiot for leaving her behind. Are you in town for long?"

"I should be; I've just moved into a house on the outskirts of town a week ago."

"That's nice, hopefully I'll see you around someplace other than the hospital."

They probably would've talked for a while longer, but Carlisle had to excuse himself to go back to his patients.

As it was nearly 4 in the morning, Hermione decided she'd better go home and take a short nap before she had school at 8.

She told Charlie that she was leaving and went home.

When she got there, Roxy had Teddy sound-asleep in his room. She told Hermione that he'd been awake when she'd arrived at the house, but he'd gone back to sleep easily.

Hermione figured that he was probably woken up earlier by the noises of Bella's fall.

He always was too quiet to let someone know when he was awake, or when he wanted something.

҉

6 AM came far too quickly, and that was when Hermione's alarm was set to wake her up.

The night before when she'd first gone to sleep she'd thought that getting up at 6 would give her plenty of time to get both herself and Teddy ready for the day and to get him to the daycare in town where he would be while she went to work at the school.

When 6 came around, Hermione decided that it was way too early to be awake and hit the snooze button rather than get up.

By the time she was ready to abandon sleep it was nearly 45 minutes later than she'd planned to be up.

_Well, there went my plan of being early._

Teddy already up and waiting when she got to his room to get him dressed. She nearly laughed when she looked at him.

He'd tried to get himself ready for the day, and he'd done a fairly good job, too.

His little jumper was on backwards and his shoes were on the wrong feet, but other than that it was a pretty good attempt.

The clothes even went well together.

Then again, it's hard to go wrong with jeans and a jumper, which is what he'd put on.

"You did a good job getting dressed, little man. Did you know Mummy was running late and try to help her out?"

He nodded and said "I hear' the beepin'"

_Oops. I didn't know my alarm would wake him up, too. I didn't think it would be that loud._

"I'm sorry. You want some breakfast before daycare?"

"Chocolate. "

She giggled a little; _He's exactly like Professor Lupin with all the chocolate. _"We can't have that for breakfast. How about some porridge, instead?"

He made a face at that."Nooo. Chocolate."

She rolled her eyes. "You can put chocolate in it." She picked him up, cutting off further protests, and carried him down to the kitchen, where she already had his porridge with chocolate waiting for him with a warming charm on it. He was very predictable.

Every morning he would ask for chocolate, and some mornings Hermione would find a way to work it into breakfast for him.

By the time he'd finished making a mess of the dining room and himself, and Hermione had finished using liberal amounts of cleaning charms, it was time to leave ten minutes ago.

In the garage, Hermione looked at the clock on her phone and grimaced.

_The faster car it is, then._

She buckled Teddy into his seat in the Porsche and then they took off.

All of their cars had a ridiculous amount of safety spells put on them, and so they were all safe enough for Teddy to be fine in the front seat of the ones without backseats. They were covered in so many safety spells that even if a boulder were dropped on top of one of their vehicles, there wouldn't be a dent.

The daycare was a small place about a mile from the grocery store and welcomed children between the ages of 8 months and 8 years.

Even with such a large age gap there were barely 25 kids there.

Hermione wondered what the other parents did with their kids while they went to work.

_Maybe most families have one stay-at-home parent in this town._

By the time Teddy had accepted the fact that she had to go, but would be back later, Hermione only had 20 minutes before she would be late for her first class.

It was a good thing the school was never more than ten minutes from anywhere in Forks and only five from Teddy's daycare.

There were seven periods each day, but all the teachers only had to teach six. Hermione was off for third period. Each period was one hour long.

The only problem might be people, because from the way they were looking at her it was like she was the shiny new toy to kindergarteners. The students were fascinated, it seemed like they thought she was another new student. Even the teachers were being really friendly, and Hermione wasn't the kind to really socialize all that much.

Who knows, though, maybe that'll change?

҉

Author's note- Was it any good? You should tell me what you thought, maybe in a review?

Thanks for reading,

21ShootingStars.

P.S- For those of you who celebrate it, _Merry Christmas. _Oh, and _ Happy New Year!_


	3. Chapter 3

RESPONSES TO REVIEWS_-_

About the Porsche; yeah, I totally stole Alice's car. In this story there won't be any going to Italy, so I wanted Alice to lust after the car at some point even without Italy and decided that Hermione could have the car.

About Teddy; he's just a little shy. And I'm not really sure how much a kid who's only a little over 2 years old should be able to talk. So if anyone wants to let me know some stuff about the different ages little kids are supposed to be able to do stuff, feel free to do so. I'll probably be doing more research on it once I'm home.

Disclaimer- You should know by now that no one on this site actually owns any recognizable characters or pieces of plot, so I won't tell you that I'm not J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer. Wait…I just did tell you that, didn't I? Oh well.

_CHAPTER THREE_

_I can't believe Bella actually fell down the stairs, and only a few weeks ago that was what we claimed happened to her in Phoenix._

Carlisle had just finished fixing up Bella's injuries, he was the doctor on duty when she'd been brought into the Emergency Room, and he was now on his way out to the waiting area to tell her Father what the extent of the injuries was.

It was bad, but it definitely could've been worse.

There were a total of four breaks of her bones: two on her left forearm, the third was a few inches above her left ankle, and the last a few inches above the third. She'd had a few gashes on her head, as well, and they had needed stitches. And she had a nasty concussion.

When Carlisle had first seen her, he'd been worried that she'd done something stupid like throw herself over a cliff because of Edward. One of the nurses who brought her in had informed him that the young lady who had driven Bella to the Hospital claimed Bella fell down a staircase.

As he walked into the waiting room Carlisle noticed that there was the scent of someone he didn't recognize in the room.

_Whoever brought Bella here must be new to town, then._

He was halfway to Charlie before Carlisle noticed something odd about the woman. Though she was clearly a human, there was something special about the air around her that Carlisle knew he recognized, but he just couldn't place it.

It wasn't really describable; it was nearly like stepping into a fog when Carlisle tried to analyze it. It made him feel surrounded by a warm mist.

It was clear to Carlisle that this was no ordinary human; she had a sort of deadly power that he could feel even from the other side of the room. She had something enthralling about her that nearly caused him to turn off the course he was on toward Charlie and head to her instead, she had….

_Magic! _

The recognition of the strange feeling caused his steps to falter, and he couldn't help but glance in the direction of the young woman he now knew to be a witch. Looking at her he was amused to notice that she was standing in a pair of fluffy pajamas, and didn't even appear to notice.

_No wonder I didn't recognize it at first; I haven't been around anyone with magic since just after I was changed, over 300 years ago. Now that I know what it is the magic is obvious in the air. I miss magic, it was always great fun._

And the magic was thick and obvious in the air. No one alive, or even any vampires, not even Edward or Aro, had known that Carlisle had been a wizard when he was a human.

Granted, he hadn't been _much_ of a wizard; he'd been a fairly pathetic wizard, nearly a squib. He'd been an epic failure at most forms of magic, only succeeding in the mind arts (Legilimency and Occlumency, which was how he'd hidden it from Edward and Aro) and Potions (which really didn't require much _magical_ talent).

Well, he'd also been magic sensitive; able to sense the magic surrounding people and objects belonging to the wizarding world.

When Carlisle was human, magical beings, like wizards and witches, had had incredible, colorful, swirling magic; the more powerful they were, the brighter the colors of their magic. Magic was beautiful to Carlisle when he was a human. It was intoxicating, and with the way magic had always been present around him Carlisle was usually almost giddy.

Carlisle hadn't been around a witch or wizard since just after his change, when he'd gone to say goodbye to a couple of his old Hogwarts friends before he left England; they'd been less than welcoming after finding out about his new creature-status. That was when he'd discovered something that hit him hard. While all his other senses had become a thousand times more powerful and sharp, his magic-sensing ability had dulled considerably. Instead of great swirls of color surrounding the wizards and witches he knew, he'd seen only a fog; like a cloud enveloping them. And everyone's magic had looked exactly alike. It was still the most intoxicating thing out there, though. He'd _hated_ losing his view of the magic more than anything else about being a vampire.

The loss of those senses was part of what threw him into the suicidal depression just after he'd been changed.

Carlisle shoved these thoughts fronts from the front of his mind and continued on toward Charlie. He'd done all that thinking so quickly that only half a second had passed.

"Dr. Cullen," Charlie said upon realizing Carlisle was there. "How is she?"

"Bella will be fine Charlie, and I've told you before to call me Carlisle." He said calmly, noticing the witch's stiff posture relax at his lack of worry.

_Bella is practically family, so that makes Charlie just like family, too, even if he doesn't know it. And family doesn't need to call me Dr. Cullen; it's awkward. _

"Her left arm and leg were both broken in two spots, and she had three gashes on her head: two on her face and one in the back. Those needed stitches, but not too many; only five, total. And she has a pretty bad concussion, so I'd like for her to stay here for a few days; that way we can keep an eye on that."

He noticed Charlie wince a few times at the news of, exactly, what was wrong with Bella, but he also saw in Charlie's eyes that he trusted Carlisle's judgment on the fact that Bella would be fine.

"Whatever you suggest, Doct- Carlisle."

"You can go see her whenever you like, she's in room 279. How has she been lately, Charlie? I know all of us, especially Alice, have missed seeing her around." And that was true, _everyone_ missed Bella.

Carlisle figured this was as good a time as any to find out how Bella was dealing with Edward's departure. He really hated the way Edward had left like that, _again._ And this time he'd left behind a great person; the entire family actually liked Bella, as opposed to the other girls Edward had brought home over the years.

"Just know that if I ever see that boy of yours he's going to have a lot to answer for," _Believe me, Charlie, I agree with you. Edward needs to have some sense knocked into him. _"but she's been doing better since Hermione got here."

_Ah, so that must be the witch's name. Hermione._

It was nice of Charlie to bring Hermione into the conversation; Carlisle had noticed the way she'd looked uncomfortable just standing around listening to them talk, but he hadn't known how to bring her into the conversation.

Carlisle turned to Hermione, acting like he hadn't really noticed her before. "Oh, hello Ms…?"

"You can call me Hermione; I'm Bella's cousin." _Well, that explains why she's around Forks; she must be visiting Charlie and Bella. And she's English, maybe she went to Hogwarts! I wonder what house she would've been…_

"Then you can call me Carlisle." _I plan to at least try to be friends with her, so things might as well start off casual between us. Or, as casual as they can be considering the circumstances._

As she introduced herself she reached out to shake his hand, but, as Carlisle introduced himself, he did something he hadn't really planned to but it came natural to him.

Back when he was still human, it was the gentlemanly thing to do to kiss a lady's hand and it was something that his pure-blood mother had drilled into him from a young age. Whenever you greet a witch, you do not shake her hand; you bow to her and kiss the back of her hand. And from what Carlisle remembered of the wizarding world it didn't exactly approve of change, so it was probably still done now in the wizarding world.

Looking up at her through his eyelashes as he bowed to her, Carlisle noticed her blush. And he noticed that it made her all the more beautiful.

_Whoa, Carlisle, where did that thought come from? _He asked himself. _You know better than to even think about humans like that._

From the corner of his vision, Carlisle saw Charlie looking curiously at him after that display before Charlie just shook his head before turning and wondering off, presumably to go see his daughter.

"Hello, then, Carlisle."

"I'm grateful that you're helping Bella. My son was an idiot for leaving her behind. Are you in town for long?" _Please say yes, I'd love to talk with you about what's happened in the wizarding world in the last 400 years._

"I should be; I've just moved into a house on the outskirts of town a week ago." _Perfect, that'll give her plenty of time to recognize me as a vampire; then I'll be able to let her know that I know about what she is. I really would like to know more about the happenings in the wizarding world, even if I'm not exactly welcome there anymore._

"That's nice, hopefully I'll see you around someplace other than the hospital."

She was about to answer him when a nurse interrupted their conversation and told him that another patient had just come in. As he was the doctor working the Emergency Room that night, Carlisle had to excuse himself and leave.

The 'emergency' turned out to be more amusing than imperative. One of the local teenagers, Mike Newton, had made a bet with a friend that he could get a billiards ball into his mouth and then take it out. He'd succeeded halfway, but he'd been unable to get the ball out of his mouth.

_Teenagers really are absolutely __**brilliant.**__ Aren't they?_

Carlisle honestly didn't know what came over him when he was dealing with the brainless boy; maybe it was just the boredom that comes with being a vampire that inspired him.

He might have tormented him a bit before he helped him; He just said something about how we would probably have to pull a few teeth to be able to get the billiards ball out of his mouth, and the look of terror on Newton's face was absolutely worth it.

In the end all Carlisle had to do was give him a shot of muscle relaxant and wait for it to take effect before taking the billiards ball out of his mouth.

Newton might be scarred for life, though. He'll probably have a little more than a healthy fear of dentists.

After that 'emergency' was taken care of Carlisle didn't have any more patients all night and ended up doing paperwork until his shift was over. On the way out of the hospital for the day, he decided to stop and check on Bella one last time before leaving.

She was awake and, probably because of a lack of anything better to do, she was flipping through the television stations. The doctor didn't see Charlie anywhere, so he assumed Charlie had gone home after seeing that Bella was alright.

"Good Morning, Bella. How are you feeling?"

She jumped a little at the sound of a voice; obviously she hadn't seen the vampire lurking in her doorway.

"Good Morning, Doctor Cullen. I'm doing alright."

_When did she start calling me Doctor Cullen again? I thought I'd cured her of that after the first day she came over to the house._

"That's good; I want you to be sure to tell someone if you start to feel sick or if anything feels worse suddenly. Ok?"

"Yes, sir, Doctor." She said in a dull voice before looking away from Carlisle.

"Bella?" She didn't respond. "Bella, look at me." She glanced at him before looking back at the television with unseeing eyes. "Fine, then just listen to what I have to say. No one blames you for what Edward's done. He's done this before. He makes a habit of doing this every time we move to a new place; he starts to go on dates with a girl and tries to bring her into the family before leaving once she's attached to him. We usually moved on with him; no matter how much we hated what he did to people, he was still family."

Bella's eyebrows furrowed in concentration and she turned to look at him. "Was?" she questioned.

Carlisle sighed in relief that he'd caught her attention. "Not anymore, Bella. He made the mistake of picking you to mess with this time, and the five of us found that we like you far too much to condone what he's done this time. Bella, he made you part of the family and, unless you tell us you don't want to be part of the family, you always will be."

"Why would he do that?" She asked as she allowed a single tear to fall.

"I don't think we'll ever know, exactly. I used to think it was some coping mechanism that he used because he felt abandoned after his parents both died, but now I'm not so sure…." He trailed off after realizing that she wasn't listening to a word he said.

Bella had tears running down her face, sobbing silently. He stepped over next to her and started rubbing calming circles on her shoulder; whispering calming nothings in her ear.

It was a few minutes before she calmed enough to say "Just leave me alone for now, Carlisle. Please."

He respected her wishes and backed out of her room, feeling like a failure for not being able to help Bella. His only consolation was that she was obviously on her way to recovery, because to him it looked like she'd just hit the 'acceptance' phase.

_AUTHOR'S NOTE-_ Review?

Sorry for the wait, guys. It's been a _long_ few weeks. Would any of you all believe me if I said that Drafting parts for a robot is hard work, especially when you have to learn to use a new program to do it in. I have AutoCAD training, not Autodesk Inventor training, but my robotics team sponsor doesn't understand the difference…. Anyway, the parts I've spent the last 6 weeks designing and drawing have _finally_ been created and they came in today! The first of (hopefully) many competitions will happen March 17-19, so updates should get more frequent for all my stories around April.

Thanks For Reading,

21ShootingStars.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- I still don't own it.

҉

After ten minutes of teachers just 'dropping in' to meet the new teacher, and students looking terribly broken-hearted that they would now have a real teacher again, the bell finally rang for the first class of the day to start.

Hermione had barely been at the school for ten minutes and she'd already met probably half the staff. The one that stuck out the most in her memory was Coach Flynn, the man they'd had teaching Art classes before she'd arrived.

He was one of the P.E. coaches and Hermione wasn't fond of him in the slightest. He obviously hadn't wanted to teach art, but he had the most free spaces on his schedule during the day, so the school had put him in the role of art teacher. He'd only come by to thank her for rescuing from the 'crazy little nerds who'd rather be cooped up inside than outside playing a sport.'

From what Hermione could tell, he wasn't much of a people person and he had no love of the arts.

"Good morning, class. Welcome to Art 1. I'm Ms. Granger and I'll be teaching you from now on. How about you all tell me your names before we do anything else?"

The students were mostly freshmen and all of them were curious about the new teacher. Most of the class period was spent with her telling a bit about herself; where she was from (as if that wasn't obvious from her accent), how old she was (Hermione barely caught herself in time to respond '24'), and had she done all those pictures on the wall behind her desk? What were they?

Hermione had come into the school the previous Friday in order to add a little bit of her personal touch to the classroom. A few pictures she'd done and enjoyed seeing, but they weren't exactly her favorites that she would miss having around the house, were hanging on the wall behind her desk.

In the center was a charcoal of Draco Malfoy, who had surprisingly become a good friend after he was attacked by a werewolf and Harry and Hermione volunteered to keep him company during the full moon in their animagus forms. The charcoal was of Draco on the night of his first transformation; he was standing in a window of the Shrieking Shack as the moon rose just as the first of the transformation hit him. He'd slammed a fist into the window so hard that glass shards were flying. He was turned away from the window, his face visible in the picture, with his eyes locked shut and his teeth biting onto his bottom lip.

Next to it was a watercolor shamelessly stolen from Luna. After Hermione had seen the ceiling in Luna's bedroom, the five beautifully painted faces of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville, Hermione had gone straight to work on re-creating it. Her version even had the golden-painted word' friends' like Luna's. The one difference was that in Hermione's version Luna was included in the painting.

On the other side of Draco was a tribute to Sirius Black. It was a huge paper with a series of sketches relating to everything Sirius that Hermione had ever known. There was a sketch of a big, black, dog fighting a Stag. There was a copy of the old WANTED posters. There was one of Sirius in his tattered prison robes standing over a terrified Ron. There was one of Harry and Sirius talking about living together while standing just out of the Whomping Willow's reach, another of Sirius in the Charms Professor's office when they'd broken him out, and one Buckbeak in the distance. A sketch of Sirius in the cave on the mountainside in Hogsmeade. One of a brooding Sirius with his feet kicked up on the Grimmauld Place kitchen, staring at a bottle of Ogden's. The Veil was also there. The final picture was one of Bellatrix Lestrange; it was something that Hermione had seen in one of Harry's memories when they were learning Legilimency together. Bellatrix was flat on her back in the ministry atrium under Harry's Cruciatus. Written above the picture were the taunting words that had caused Harry to go to such extremes; "I killed Sirius Black!"

The final picture to make it to the wall was one of Harry with Teddy. He was kneeling down and putting a necklace around Teddy's neck. The necklace was one of the Potter Family crests from the Potter Vault. This one would only work as a portkey if its wearer was in danger, and it would bring them to safety. It was above the one of Draco.

When Hermione's students asked about them she had to slightly edit her stories of what inspired them, but the stories were still close enough to the truth.

She was really amused when the students looked at her in unrestrained shock when she said her husband's godfather was a, now deceased, escaped convict who was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison and was now, posthumously, declared innocent. She wasn't sure if their shock came from the escaped convict part or the husband and child part. They weren't easily convinced that she was actually 24 and had a child and Hermione nearly rolled her eyes at their persistence that she looked far too young to have had a son. They all believed it when she explained that Teddy was adopted.

All her classes followed a similar routine that day.

The oddest thing to happen all day was in the Talented Art class. When Hermione looked at the class roster and saw all the students with the same last name as her cousin's doctor, Doctor Cullen, she had decided that being artistic must run in the family. There were four of them, two girls and two boys: Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett. And there were only 9 people in the whole school who qualified for talented art, so having four in one family was something special. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if this Alice was the one Bella had mentioned earlier.

A few seconds into the class period the little one with the spiky black hair, Alice, kind of started staring into space for about a minute. Hermione had been about to ask if she was alright when she snapped out of it. Just seconds after Alice started paying attention again, Emmet, the bear-like Cullen, who was seated somewhere behind Alice and couldn't really see her, started laughing. The weird part was that no one had said anything. Hermione was fairly sure it was some inside joke between them all, because all the Cullen kids had some sort of goofy smiles.

And a few other times during the class it was like they were all connected at the brain, because whenever one of them would get some random expression on their face the others would soon follow. Usually it seemed like Emmett and Jasper were doing it more than the others though; most of the time one of them would get some self-satisfied smile while the other would start glaring at the first.

Hermione hadn't wanted to bother trying legilimency on them, feeling like it would be an invasion of privacy, but all day long she'd been left wondering what exactly was going on with those kids. She just hoped it wouldn't keep happening, otherwise she doubted she'd be able to stop herself from reading their minds.

When the Talented Art class was over, it was time for lunch and Hermione went to the cafeteria to buy a lunch before making her way to the teachers' lounge to eat. She, once again, had to meet way more co-workers than she'd ever be able to remember names for.

There was one teacher, Roger Sterling, who Hermione enjoyed talking to. Roger was probably around 40 and told Hermione that he was recently discharged from the United States Army, where he worked as a translator, after he became injured. He seemed like someone who, like her, appreciated learning just for the sake of learning. He taught World Geography and European History. He questioned her about her life in Europe and she thought he was a pretty cool guy. He almost reminded her of the Twins in the way that he had a passion for what he did. He was extremely smart and fluent in twenty-seven languages. Hermione was fairly sure she'd just found her new person to talk to during school hours.

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After school was over, Hermione found out another something interesting about the locals in Forks: some of them are fascinated by fancy cars. It took her a good five minutes to work her way through the crowd of teenage boys surrounding her car. She finally managed to shoo them off so that she could go get Teddy and they could go visit Bella in the Hospital.

On the way to the Hospital, Teddy filled her in on his day. He had apparently made friends, and Hermione was more pleased than she would ever let on that he was enjoying himself. She and Harry had both been alone and friendless until Hogwarts and she was hoping with all her heart that Teddy would never know how that felt. He told her that he'd missed her when she left, but then the adults there had introduced him to the other kids his age.

At the hospital they went straight on up to room 279 and found Bella asleep. She looked more at ease than Hermione had seen her since arriving in Washington, except for the dried tear tracks that were barely visible on her face.

_Author's Note-_

Quick question- Do other people's schools have Talented Art? Because my school district does, but I don't know anything about other people's schools; so I could've just made a big uh-oh with the whole Talented Art thing. Let me know?

And Roger is just some random dude I made up so that Hermione could have another Nerd to be around. I think it would be really awesome to know 27 languages, just sayin'.

_**Hey, I've got another question while I'm at it. I've recently been wondering who reads this stuff I write, so in your next review could you all tell me? I don't mean anything personal; I'm just wondering what age range and gender I'm reaching most with my story. So if you want to be awesome and help satisfy my curiosity could you tell me what decade you were born in and what gender you are? **_

_**Thanks,**_

_**21ShootingStars **_


	5. Chapter 5

Hi…Sorry, for the wait. *Sheepishly look down in shame* It has been far too long. I know I promised April updates and it is now June, and I know it has been a good four months since I _thought_ about this story, so…Sorry.

**I made a stupid mistake in chapter two and said that there were seven periods per day and each teacher had to teach six, but then I gave Hermione two periods off. Pretend that I said there are eight periods per day.**

I had considered quitting this story after a friend of mine told me that she thought the pairing to be awful because Carlisle was way too old for Hermione, but I think I'll keep up with it. So, if my silly, ballerina/sous-chef/best-friend is reading this hope she'll forgive my going against her advice. Love You, girly.

Disclaimer-You recognize it? I don't own it.

_Chapter Five_

A week had passed since Carlisle had spoken to Bella in the hospital about Edward. Every time he'd gone to check on her condition after that, she'd either pretended to be asleep or had treated him like they'd never met outside of the Doctor-Patient relationship before. It bothered Carlisle more than he wanted to admit. He would have to ask Alice if she had any insight into Bella's reasons for avoiding him.

Anyway, Carlisle was on his way to Forks High School to formally withdraw his 'son' Edward from school. He hadn't even thought about a need to do that, it had totally slipped his mind, until he'd received notice from the school that if Edward missed one more day of school he would be Expelled and reported to the police for Truancy. Needless to say, Edward wasn't planning on returning to Forks High anytime soon.

It was nearly time for all the students to go to Lunch and Carlisle was considering making a stop in the school's cafeteria, after finishing whatever paperwork the school required, just to embarrass the 'children'. He was positive they would not enjoy having their 'father' visit them in school, the few hours a day when most teens could escape their parental figures.

The thought of their reactions was what kept him entertained throughout the entire, rather tedious, process of removing Edward from school without having Edward present. When he finally finished his business at the school, he exited the office and was about to head toward the cafeteria when he saw Alice leaning against a wall outside the office, smug expression firmly in place. "Don't even bother, Carlisle. I already warned them what you were planning."

_Damn, I forgot about her ability for a moment. How did I forget that even after knowing her so long?_

"Oh, Carlisle, one more warning for the day; you'll be getting a call about Emmett's _bad_ behavior in about thirty seconds. He decided to be stupid so that he would be held after class and therefore would be able to avoid seeing you. Oh, and the Art classroom is that way." Alice pointed toward a building on the other side of the school from the Office before disappearing.

_Why would I need to know where the Art classroom is?_ Carlisle only had a few seconds to wonder before he got a call on his cell phone from an unfamiliar number that he assumed would be Emmett's teacher.

"Hello, Dr. Cullen speaking." He answered in his most formal tone, the one he always used when getting calls about business.

"Hello, Dr. Cullen. This is Ms. Granger calling from Forks High School about your son Emmett."

_Where do I know that voice? ...Is that Bella's cousin?_

"Is Emmett alright? He's not hurt is he?" Carlisle knew Emmett wasn't hurt, but he had to put on a concerned parent act.

"No, nothing like that! He isn't injured, but I am slightly concerned about his behavior in class today."

In the background of this call, he heard Emmett call out "Tell Carlie I said Hi!"

_Carlie? What is Emmett hoping to achieve with silly names?_

"Ms. Granger, I am actually at the school right now taking care of a bit of paperwork for one of my other children; if you'd like I can just stop by your room and we can have this discussion in person?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Doctor. My classroom is room 21, and I have Emmett here with me so we can all talk about this together."

Carlisle headed to the Art classroom wondering what Emmett had done this time.

Two things were obvious when Carlisle stepped into Ms. Granger's classroom. The first was that she was most definitely Bella's cousin Hermione. Even if Carlisle hadn't recognized her voice on the phone and then her appearance after seeing her upon entering the room, he would have known it was her because of the cloud of magic surrounding her. The second was the reason why he was getting calls from concerned teachers.

If he had been an average human father, he probably would have had a heart attack at the sight of his son. Emmett had obviously gone back to the house since the school day began. There was no way Alice would have let him anywhere near the school looking like that if she could have stopped him; she wouldn't have even allowed him out of the house.

Deciding the best approach to this would be to get the story straight from Emmett's mouth, he asked "Emmett, why are you wearing your Rocky Horror costume? You know it's indecent to wear that in public unless you are actually going to see Rocky Horror!"

_I'm only glad that Rosalie wouldn't let him go completely authentic with the costume and forced him to wear shorts, not that those too-tight, leather shorts count for very much. _

Other than the shorts, Emmett was looking like a very authentic replica of Frank-N-Furter. Including the make-up. It had been disturbing the first time Emmett decided to wear the costume to see the movie. It was just awful to see when Emmett had absolutely no reason to be dressed like this.

"But, Carlie, it makes me feel pretty!" Emmett said in his most girlish voice.

Carlisle glared at Emmett. "I don't know what you're playing at, Em, but just stop. Whatever your issue is, we can talk about it when we are all home." Carlisle said all this at vampire-speed; far too fast for Hermione to follow, or even know that he had spoken.

Carlisle then shrugged out of his white lab coat and tossed it to Emmett, who was still sitting on a stool near the back of the classroom. "Put that on to cover yourself, Emmett. My keys are in the pocket. Go home and just stay there until I get back. That is, if Ms. Granger is alright with you leaving and simply discussing your behavior with me instead of the both of us?" He said the last part as a question to Ms. Granger, feeling slightly guilty about going around her authority in her own classroom.

"That'll be fine." She responded.

"Thank you, Ms. Granger. Emmett, _put on that coat."_ He repeated, seeing Emmett hadn't done it yet. "Good. Now, just go."

Carlisle had been having a less than stellar day full of paperwork at the hospital, and Emmett's odd behavior was just irritating him. Usually he wouldn't be so bothered by what Emmett had done, but Carlisle had actually hoped to get off on a good foot with Hermione after realizing she was a witch. He was hoping she would eventually open up to him about the magical world.

"Bye-bye, then." Emmett jumped up and left the room in a hurry. Before the door fully closed behind him, Carlisle heard him say, too quiet and quick for Ms. Granger to hear, "You're welcome, Carlisle. Because you _will_ thank me later."

Carlisle just shook his head and put the cryptic message from his mind. He turned to face Hermione, "I apologize for that display. I imagine it was some sort of bet or dare between him and his brother, they tend to get up to the oddest behavior, but I really am not positive. Was he wearing that all day, or do you know?"

"It's perfectly alright, Dr. Cullen. I know a bit about people with odd habits, myself."

"I do believe I asked you to call me Carlisle the last time we met, Ms. Granger. If you'd rather be less familiar than that I'll understand, but I truly prefer being called Carlisle."

"Carlisle it is then. Please, call me Hermione. Now, about halfway through my class Emmett asked to be excused to go to the restroom. When he came back, he was looking like that. I'm assuming those clothes were in his locker or car, and that's where he got them, but I have no idea why he decided they were necessary.

"On another odd-note about Emmett's recent behavior, there was a second strange incident today. The class' assignment this week was to make a painting showing a scene from a recurring dream or nightmare or theirs. I make a point not to look at the students' work until Fridays when they present to the rest of the class. Well, It's obviously Friday. When Emmett presented his, I wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a dream or a nightmare. He said it was a nightmare, though. I feel that you should be aware if your son has nightmares about being attacked by talking silverware."

Carlisle snorted. _That's a new one._

"I hope there won't be any more problems with him, Hermione. I believe it probably has something to do with his brother Edward leaving. I have a feeling Emmett is trying to do anything outrageous that he can to cheer up Alice; she didn't take it well when Edward left and then her best friend began avoiding her all at the same time. You see, Alice once told Emmett that she would stab him with a spoon if he didn't get quiet quickly; I'd imagine that's why he pretended to be afraid of silverware."

"Carlisle, forgive me if this comes out rather rudely, but you have the strangest family I have met since I graduated from school; quite possibly stranger than most of the people I met in my boarding school in Scotland, and that is saying something."

Carlisle laughed. "I believe I know exactly what you mean, Hermione. I, too, went to a boarding school in Scotland and met some mighty strange people."

_Come on, Hermione. Take the bait and realize I mean Hogwarts. Even if you don't know I mean Hogwarts, you are sure to start thinking about the possibility._

"You went to school in Scotland?"

"Many years ago." Carlisle replied while he looked curiously around the room, noticing the artwork spread all over the place. He looked at a few pieces and chuckled as he recognized something that was obviously done by Jasper; It was a sketch of Alice while she worked. Looking around, he recognized a few other pieces that he could tell right away were done by his family. "I like the way you have the students display their work throughout the room." He said, almost as an afterthought to his reply to her question.

"Yes, the students seem to enjoy that as well."

Carlisle spun around to look at the wall and jumped about a mile in the air when he came face to face with a sight he could have gladly never seen again in his lifetime. "Good Lord, it can't be." He said quietly to himself. At least he thought it was quietly, or maybe he had underestimated Hermione's senses.

Either way, she asked "What can't be?"

_Damn. I can't very well tell her that I just saw a near-exact duplicate of the craziest bitch I ever met on her wall, now can I? Or, maybe I can; after all, I have been intending to have her figure out my past. Why not just tell her? _ A second little voice in the back of his head said, _because where would be the fun in that?_ And Carlisle couldn't disagree.

"Nothing, I just thought I saw someone I recognized in one of these pictures. It isn't her, though. Who did these, Hermione?"

_As if I don't already know that you did, Ms. Granger._

He was looking at what appeared to be a collage dedicated to a man named Sirius Black, if the Wanted posters were anything to go by. In the bottom right of the collage was the picture that had shocked him. The woman, who appeared to be both in pain and laughing at the same time, bore a striking resemblance to Elladora Black; Elladora had been a few years older than Carlisle and tormented him mercilessly through his Hogwarts years for being a pathetic excuse for a Malfoy. Of course, Carlisle hadn't really counted as a Malfoy because his mother was disowned after she married his father, but the blood had still been there. Elladora felt it her right to torture him because she was betrothed to a _Real_ Malfoy, as she often said. Crazy bitch. The sight of her look-alike gave him chills.

"I actually drew those. This one is my favorite of the ones I have at the school, though." She gestured to a depiction of a young man standing in front of a shattering window while the full moon rose in the background. It was incredible to see the amount of work she had clearly put into the art.

"Wow. They're all beautiful." Carlisle was at a loss for words. One thing he had never been able to develop a talent in was art.

She snorted disbelievingly. "Some of them don't turn out so well."

"Oh, really? I doubt anything you could make could be as bad as my best attempt, even if you tried to make it awful. I am woefully incapable of anything artistic, aside from writing." It was true, Carlisle had tried for decades to find anything artistic he could be remotely successful at and the closest he'd gotten to creating something as beautiful as her artwork was only through his written words after Alice suggested he try writing.

"Oh, please. Everyone is capable of making art; you just have to find the area you are good at." She was about to go into what Harry and Ron had always called her Lecture Mode, but managed to stop herself in time.

"Someday you'll have to swing by the house and I can show you the past disasters. " He laughed at the remembrance of a few disasters. When Alice suggested he attempt writing, it had been after he tried to paint a picture of a bird and it looked about like a turtle floating in midair.

"I'll be sure to do that. Maybe I'll bring a few disasters by to compare."

"I'd like to see what you consider a disaster." From the looks of what she had hanging up, Hermione liked things perfect. He could imagine her being one of those people who considered a slight mistake, something only the artist would notice, grounds to toss an attempt in the trash and start over, at least when it came to her work. "What's under here?" He asked when he came to a covered easel that was at least six feet wide and probably four feet tall.

"Oh…Err…that's just a little something I've just finished working on, it's been a pet-project of mine for quite a while. The assignment I gave the kids, where they were to paint their recurring dream or nightmare, well…I decided to give them that assignment because I was already doing it myself. I chose nightmare."

_Just a LITTLE something? I can't imagine what she considers large project to undertake._

"May I?" He asked gesturing toward the cover over the painting.

Hermione considered for a moment, and Carlisle could have kicked himself for doing something as stupid as basically asking to see what was probably either her biggest fear or worst memory.

Just as he was about to apologize and step away from the painting, she nodded and stepped closer to help him uncover the massive painting.

His unnecessary breath caught in his throat at the sight of Hogwarts practically destroyed. It was obvious something horrible had happened there. He could understand why the thought gave her nightmares. If he could sleep, Carlisle would have had nightmares for months just from this painting. It physically hurt to see Hogwarts so injured.

Hogwarts had always been beautiful, and so full of life. Now the life was being snuffed out right before Carlisle's eyes.

Hogwarts grounds' were littered with bodies, young and old, innocent and guilty, clearly-human and horrible masked-beings that could have been anything or anyone.

Her lawns were on fire, as were the walls and the trees of the forest. The forest looked different from what Carlisle remembered even without the fires, but he supposed that a few centuries would do that to a forest.

Of all the horrors and nightmares the picture represented, the worst was the pain that had been inflicted on Hogwarts itself. The school's windows, both the stained glass that told so many stories and the regular windows, all appeared to be shattered. Entire walls seemed to be crumbling. The inside of the Great Hall was visible through a gaping hole in one of the walls. There were what appeared to be bodies lined up on the four House tables while other people grieved for the lost that surrounded them.

In front of the school, leaning against a wall in order to support himself, was a young man who appeared to be in his late teens. He looked like his heart was breaking into pieces; one arm was curled around his chest, like he was holding himself together, and his other hand was on covering his face. His fingers were threaded into his messy, black hair and pulling on it while tears leaked down his face. His glowing green eyes were wild and tormented.

"What happened to Hogwarts, Hermione?"

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Author's Note-I know that they were already calling each other Carlisle and Hermione a few chapters ago, but the relationship between a man meeting the family of someone he considers family is different than the relationship between Parent and Teacher. I felt that they needed to re-establish that they could be informal with each other, even when they were speaking because of a happening at school.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note- Cruel of me to leave it where I did last time? Maybe just a little… And that whole Rocky Horror thing? I was just having a Rocky Horror day and felt like including it. It has no bearing on the rest of the story, so fear not.

_**I HAVE CHANGED THINGS IN THIS STORY! MWAHAHAHA! ON 7-21-11 AT ABOUT 10pm I WENT BACK AND EDITED, SO IF YOU READ CHAPTERS 1-5 BEFORE THEN READ AGAIN! **__** The main changes are easy enough to comprehend if you'd like to just read this note and I'll explain them, but there is a bit of backstory that I added to make the whole Granger/Swan family relationship more understandable. The biggest change is that now, instead of being one year after the Final Battle, it is two years after. So Teddy is a little over two and Hermione is twenty. **__** Other than that, it's just little things that made the story more understandable, in my opinion.**_

Disclaimer- No, I don't think I'm from Europe. That sort of means I can't be JK Rowling. _Shame_, isn't it? And I'm not Stephanie Meyer either.

_Chapter Six_

"What happened to Hogwarts, Hermione?"

Once Hermione heard the word Hogwarts, she was immediately on her guard. One thing that the war and its aftermath had taught her was caution. She'd not expected to run into anyone who knew of the magical world in Forks, so she admittedly hadn't been as careful as she should've been, but that wasn't to say her reflexes weren't still superb.

She had her wand in her hand and pointed at Carlisle by the time he'd finished asking his question.

"How do you know about Hogwarts?"

҉

Before Carlisle had even finished asking her what had happened to the school he loved, he could hear the whooshing sound of a wand flying out of a sleeve and he could tell that she had her wand pointed at his back.

_She's quick._ He thought, impressed, as she asked how he knew of Hogwarts.

He raised his arms so that she could see he was unarmed and slowly turned around. He knew that it would be next to impossible for her to actually incapacitate him, but he wasn't really interested in scaring Hermione because of the way he'd been unable to restrain his words from betraying his knowledge of magic.

"I told you I attended a boarding school in Scotland. It's been a while, but I went to Hogwarts when I turned eleven and graduated from Hogwarts at age eighteen. Same as I imagine you did. I mean you no harm. I don't even have a wand on me." Carlisle said in his least threatening tone. He didn't know what she'd been through, but, from both the picture and her actions, it was clear to him that she was used to erring on the side of caution.

"_Accio wand_!" When no wand came flying toward her, Hermione lowered her wand a bit, beginning to believe he was actually unarmed, but she was still ready to curse him if he made any sudden movements.

"Voldemort happened to Hogwarts." She explained, clearly believing he would understand what that meant. Carlisle was still just as confused as before, if not more so.

_Voldemort? That's French for flight from death; what was Hogwarts doing fleeing from death? That doesn't make any sense at all._

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Carlisle confessed. It was rare nowadays for him to have no idea about something, and it bothered him to be so unknowledgeable about _anything_, even more so about something that had once been so important to him.

"The Dark Lord? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Death Eaters? None of that rings any bells to you?"

_Which Dark Lord does she mean, there have been hundreds? Oh…perhaps there was a recent one and he was responsible for the destruction of Hogwarts._

Carlisle shook his head and replied "No, I've been a bit out of touch with that world for a long time. I've had a purely muggle existence for quite some time."

The doctor was glad to notice that her wand arm dropped almost completely and her battle-ready stance relaxed quite a bit.

"But you can't be over forty, even with the slow aging of wizards. Voldemort would have been in the height of his power during the First War while you were at school. How do you not know?" She looked so honestly puzzled that Carlisle was tempted to tell his secret, but then he remembered that it wasn't just his secret to tell.

_If I tell her about being a vampire, I'll have the entire family's approval first. It wouldn't be fair to them if I just flat out told their teacher they aren't human, even if she is Bella's cousin._

"Humor me, please; I'm older than I look, Hermione." He answered evasively.

She frowned at his non-answer to her question, but she began to explain anyway. "Well, about thirty five years ago, there was a wizard named Tom Riddle who began to rise to power. He was the half-blood descendent of Salazar Slytherin and his aim, like so many other Dark Lords, was to rid the world of those he thought unworthy. Namely, muggles and muggleborns. He was paranoid about dying and wanted to find a way to be immortal, and he was well on his way to doing so before he was stopped. He spread terror like you can't imagine. There was a prophecy that he was told about, but he only heard half of it. He heard the part saying that there was a baby to be born at the end of July who would be able to vanquish him. So, obviously, the best plan of action was to kill this baby before he became strong enough to control his magic, right? Wrong. When he attacked Harry Potter, something happened that turned him into just a shadow of himself. He barely existed, and the wizarding world believed him dead. Harry Potter was hailed as the boy-who-lived and sent off to live with relatives because his parents had been killed in the attack.

"Harry never knew about magic until his eleventh birthday when his Hogwarts letter came. His muggle relatives weren't the pleasant sort and they tried to stop him from going to school, but they weren't successful. Harry became a Gryffindor and, like many of us Gryffindors, he had a bit of a saving people thing. In both his first and second years he delayed Voldemort's return to the best of his ability. In his fourth year, Harry was a Triwizard Tournament Champion for Hogwarts. During the third task, he was tricked into portkeying away and unwillingly played a part in Voldemort returning for good. They dueled in the middle of a graveyard and it ended up as a bit of a stalemate. Harry returned to Hogwarts via the portkey and informed everyone of the Dark Lord's return, but no one believed it for another year until Voldemort was spotted in public and it was too late.

"The Second War wasn't as bloody as the First, at least not at first, but it was just as terrifying, if not more. The worst of it started at the end of mine and Harry's sixth year, when the Potions Professor killed Headmaster Dumbledore, who was the leader of the resistance. After that, nowhere was truly believed safe. Barely three months later, the Ministry had fallen to the Dark. Harry, Ron, and I were on the run for many months while we tried to destroy Voldemort's keys to immortality without him noticing until it was too late. When he finally did notice what we were up to, he was furious and Harry used his link into Voldemort's head to find out where he'd hidden the last of what we needed to destroy him. Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem was hidden in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. Voldemort and his minions, the Death Eaters, attacked Hogwarts only minutes after we were able to raise the alarm and gather the resistance. Many died that night, but Harry did the impossible and survived the Killing Curse a second time before he killed Voldemort, for forever this time.

"This painting truly is my worst nightmare; it shows the aftermath Battle of Hogwarts. That redhead over there on the grounds is Ron, mine and Harry's other best friend; he lost one of his brothers and his only sister in the battle. This is Harry just a few minutes after he found out who all was killed in the battle. It nearly tore him apart to realize that so many of the people who made up his only real family were gone, and that most of his first home was crumbling. Hogwarts took almost an entire year to rebuild, but it reopened last September."

"I don't even know what to say to that. If I'd been there it probably would have become my worst nightmare as well."

Carlisle could imagine what that must have been like to live through. He'd seen some horrific things in the years he'd lived as a vampire, mostly while living in Italy with the Volturi and during his many different times in human militaries during war while serving as a doctor, but a war like the one she described wasn't like those. He was familiar with the way wizarding wars usually went; they weren't like muggle wars that usually made it clear who was on which side. In wizard wars, no one was one hundred percent above suspicion. The neighbors who'd lived next door for centuries could be the ones you had to fear more than any, but you may not know it. Your most trusted friend from Hogwarts could be a traitor. Magical beings were more capable of defending themselves than normal humans, but they were also capable of more destruction than normal humans. Carlisle knew this; his mother's generation had fought a massive magical war. She'd not attempted to spare him the details of it either, claiming that he needed to be aware of what humans were able to do to each other.

"Yes, well there were a few good things to come from that day. Harry and I adopted his godson after all his other family was killed by the Death Eaters, the remaining members of the wizarding world won't have to worry about being murdered in their sleep, and most of the scum of our world is gone."

Carlisle was about to ask why she'd adopted her best friend's godson when the bell rang to signal the beginning of the next class and within seconds students were pouring into the classroom.

"We'll have to speak again at some other time, Carlisle. Please ask Emmett to control himself and dress appropriately in the future."

Carlisle recognized that she was putting an end to their discussion and putting on her role of teacher, so he nodded and said "I'll make sure he realizes how stupid he was today. Thank you for informing me about the incident." He figured she would be able to tell he was thanking her for more than just telling him about Emmett.

As he left the classroom and made his way to his car, Carlisle couldn't help but wonder if he truly wanted to know more about what had happened in the wizarding world recently. He was so deep in thought that he failed to remember until he was looking at an empty parking space that he'd told Emmett to take his car.

_Crap. What to do now? It would be suspicious for me to appear to walk home when most of the humans know that my family lives almost fifteen miles outside of town, and that's on the entire opposite side of town…._

Carlisle briefly considered going to either Jasper or Rosalie and getting the keys to one of their cars and having the 'kids' all go home in one car later, but then he remembered that most people weren't even aware that he'd been at the school, much less that he'd given Emmett the keys to his car.

_With all the students in class, no one will even notice me leaving. And Hermione will just assume that I apparated home after Emmett took my car._

With that decided, Carlisle walked toward the edge of the forest and, once out of sight of anyone who may be watching, as unlikely as that was, he took off into a run, all but disappearing with his speed.

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Author's Note- What did you think? Tell me about it in a review and I might write the next chapter quicker….


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note- I'm so sorry! School and life are stressful and depressing right now, and I just have not been concerned with writing for a while. I have decided to take a break from my pity-party and jump back into my second-life of fanfiction. Anyhow, here it is after a long 5 months. I love all of you people who review, and even those of you who don't. I had just about given up on fanfiction, since I have no motivation to do anything at all, but I recently received a few new reviews and I couldn't just quit. I realized that there are actually still people out there who read this and I had no desire to let you guys down.

Disclaimer- I don't own them, you guys ought to know this.

_CHAPTER SEVEN_

Carlisle spent the rest of his afternoon deep in thought. He originally wanted to allow Hermione to figure out what he was, but he just wasn't sure if he wanted to wait that long anymore. Part of him was screaming that it would be a bad idea to tell a witch that he was a vampire, but another part was screaming that he needed to tell her the truth. He suspected that Hermione would be just as understanding of his kind as her cousin, Bella, but there were no guarantees. Carlisle was still deep in thought when he heard the slamming of car doors and, upon looking at a clock, realized that it was time for his 'children' to be getting back from school.

Carlisle wasn't sure where Emmett had been since he was sent home from school, but he was probably out hunting and would be back eventually, so Carlisle wasn't worried.

_I might as well ask for their opinions. After all, this would affect them as much as me. Emmett can be brought up to speed on whatever we decide later, and if he objects then he can let me know._

"Can you guys come in here for a moment?" He called from his office "We need to have a family meeting."

Within what would have appeared to be no time at all to a human, but seemed an eternity to Carlisle, the entire family had gathered in his office. Alice seemed unnecessarily happy and Carlisle was pretty sure that meant she was well aware what the meeting was about. Rosalie strolled in as unconcerned as ever, immediately going over to laze on the couch beneath the office window, and did not appear to be remotely curious as to why Carlisle would call a family meeting. Jasper was just….well, he was Jasper. Calm and quiet, but remaining hyperaware of his surroundings at all times.

"Alright…umm…I don't exactly know how to put this, but I have something important to tell all of you. It's about my past; it's something no being that walks the face of this earth knows, aside from me. Not even Aro, who probably believes he once knew my mind better than anyone. You all know that my father hunted vampires before he died, but we aren't the only sort of people he hunted. He also hunted witches, and wizards. It was for this reason that my mother had to keep her past and family hidden from him; it was why he never knew too much about my education. He never knew I attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Carlisle, what are you talking about? Witches aren't real." Rosalie interrupted, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of actually having to explain to a four-hundred year old man that people couldn't really wield magic.

"Oh, hush up, Rosalie! You know Carlisle wouldn't lie to us about something like this. Now let the man speak! You just might learn something you'll enjoy." Alice cut in before Carlisle had a chance to answer Rosalie.

"Alice is right, Rosalie, I'm not lying to you. When I was human, I was a wizard. My mother was a pure-blooded witch from an old family, and they disowned her when she married my father because he wasn't a wizard. My mother hid her magic from him for many years, right up until the day I turned eleven and got an acceptance letter to her alma mater. The Hogwarts letter was unexpected to say the least. My mother didn't believe I possessed any magical talent because I had not shown any signs yet and she thought she would be able to keep her abilities secret from the man she had married. He was horribly angry at the both of us; my mother feared for our lives. She was forced to put him under a powerful spell that she used to control him and make him forget what he knew. She succeeded in making him forget that we possessed magic, but her magic was weak from not being used and he managed to remember the existence of magic.

"Over the years my mother managed to keep him in the dark about where I was attending school so that I could learn magic in peace, but it was the summer before my seventh year of school when he broke free of her control. I was out on an errand for my father when he snapped. I arrived back at our home to the horrific sight of my father standing over my mother with a knife in his hand, repeatedly stabbing her long-dead body. He must have stabbed her thirty times at least. He was about to do the same to me, but I was faster than he was. I wasn't the most skilled wizard around, but there were some curses that I had no problems with even though they were difficult to some people. One such curse was known as the Imperius, which granted the caster complete control over the it was used on; it was highly illegal and, if caught, the caster can be sent to prison for their entire life. I used this to stop my father.

"While I was at school that year, I had to occasionally sneak out and check to make sure my father was still under my control and occasionally renew the curse. After I graduated, I realized that the amount of time he had been under my control had made him lose most of his sanity. He was too far gone to function on his own and died not long after I graduated from school. Everything else you know is true. His final wish was for his son to continue his work of ridding the world of those he considered vermin, and so I did. Even in the wizarding world, vampires were not looked upon very highly. I led the hunts for vampires from then on, conveniently forgetting about hunting witches, and got attacked by one. That's how I ended up the way I am now."

No one spoke for a minute. Most of the family was trying to imagine the times that Carlisle spoke of, and were having very little luck. They just couldn't imagine Carlisle having any sort of magical powers or breaking a magical law to turn his father into some sort of slave to Carlisle's will. It was incomprehensible.

Jasper was the first to speak. "Carlisle? Not that this wasn't interesting, but what made you decide to tell us now, after all these years?"

Carlisle wasn't exactly sure how to break it to them that their new teacher was also a graduate of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, so he decided that being blunt would be best in this instance. "When Bella was brought into the hospital by her cousin, I noticed immediately that there was something different about the woman. It took me a second, but I realized that she was a witch. This afternoon while at your school, I was speaking with your art teacher, who just so happens to be the aforementioned cousin of Bella's. While looking at some of her art, I accidentally let it slip that I was familiar with the location in a painting, Hogwarts. She now knows that I graduated from there. She is not yet aware that it's been well over three centuries since I graduated, but I would like very much for her to know this. I feel she is trustworthy, but I want your opinions and I will not move forward in this matter without all of your consent."

҉

Hermione's thoughts were on overdrive. She couldn't believe that there was another person in Forks who knew of Hogwarts! She found it hard to believe that he truly had no idea of the wars that had ravaged the wizarding world for many years, but was willing to accept Carlisle's word on the matter.

_I just wish I knew more about him. How is it possible for him to be old enough that he'd never heard of Voldemort, even though he graduated from Hogwarts? He can't possibly be a day over thirty five, and that would be pushing it, even with the slow aging of wizards. _

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Well, there it was. Short, I know, but it's more than I've done in months. Was it any good? Why don't you tell me, maybe in a review?

21ShootingStars.


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